Posted on 12/21/2007 12:14:30 AM PST by LibWhacker
LIMA — Two robbers who broke into Luther Ricks Sr.’s house this summer may have not gotten his life savings he had in a safe, but after the FBI confiscated it he may not get it back.
Ricks has tried to get an attorney to fight for the $402,767 but he has no money. Lima Police Department officers originally took the money from his house but the FBI stepped in and took it from the Police Department. Ricks has not been charged with a crime and was cleared in a fatal shooting of one of the robbers but still the FBI has refused to return the money, he said.
“They are saying I have to prove I made it,” he said.
The 63-year-old Ricks said he and his wife, Meredith, saved the money during their lifetime in which both worked while living a modest life.
A representative of the FBI could not be reached for comment.
During the fatal shooting incident inside the house June 30, Ricks and his son were being attacked by two men and his son was stabbed. Ricks broke free, grabbed a gun and shot to death 32-year-old Jyhno Rock inside his home at 939 Greenlawn Ave.
Police originally took the money after finding marijuana inside Ricks’ home, which Ricks said he had to help manage pain.
“I smoke marijuana. I have arthritis. I have shingles, a hip replacement,” he said.
Ricks, who is retired from Ohio Steel Foundry, said he always had a safe at home and never had a bank account.
American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Legal Director Jeff Gamso said Ricks has a tough road ahead, not impossible, but tough to get back his money.
“The law of forfeiture basically says you have to prove you’re innocent. It’s terrible, terrible law,” he said.
The law is tilted in favor of the FBI in that Ricks need not be charged with a crime and the FBI stands a good chance at keeping the money, Gamso said.
“The law will presume it is the result of ill-gotten gains,” he said.
Still Ricks can pursue it and possibly convince a judge he had the money through a lifetime of savings. Asking the FBI usually doesn’t work, he said.
“The FBI, before they would give it up, would want dated receipts,” he said.
If the FBI does keep the money, it would be put toward a law enforcement use, if the city of Lima does not fight for it because the city discovered it, Gamso said.
Lima Law Director Tony Geiger said he has not been asked to stake a legal claim for the money.
The FBI learned all about the law from prosecutor Nifong.
For that matter, the attitude of the local cops is easily understood if they're one of those departments that hates the idea of armed private citizens.
Again, because the homeowner used an Evil Firearm. The fact that he wasn't arrested for that just puts some extra burn in the leftie lawyers' butts.
Fumbling Bumbling Idiots are at it again. Their bribe fund must be short!
That's understood, but we're running out of options as to how to deal with the impending police state that we now face. Try as I might, I cannot quite get myself to refer to them as "heroes of law enforcement" any more.
That's why this guy doesn't pass the smell test. Anyone that has the intellect to legitimately earn the kind of money that allows you to stash $400k, is certainly aware of the principle of compounding interest. I don't like the Fed's actions, but that was drug money.
Not unbelievable at all and no, employers cannot require direct deposit. Per the U.S. Department of Labor Field Manual:
The payment of wages through direct deposit into an employee's bank account is an acceptable method of payment, provided employees have the option of receiving payment by cash or check directly from the employer.My husband had never had a bank account at age 40 when I met him and his credit history was absolutely zilch, he had paid for everything in cash all of his life. At that time, he went to a check cashing store each week to cash his check. Also, we saved up $10,000 cash to put down on our new log home a couple of years ago and the mortgage company was refusing to take the cash, demanding that we deposit the money in the bank and write them a check. I told them they would take the cash or the deal was off. They took the cash. No longer than it took us to save that money, I can easily see someone amassing $400,000 in a lifetime. Some of the implications on this thread that he has to be a criminal to have that kind of money lying around are ridiculous, I know quite a few people who just don't trust banks and last time I checked, being eccentric wasn't a criminal offense.
Completely and totally unconstitutional. Thanks, failed war on some drugs.
No doubt. This is an indefensible travesty.
““The law will presume it is the result of ill-gotten gains,””
Meaning the ‘law’ is in contradiction to our basic concept of ‘innocent until proven guilty’.
He had marajuana in his home..
“But if you are going to keep that much cash on hand, better make sure that you’re a law abiding citizen, or you’re going to end up in a crap problem like this.”
But William Jefferson had a LARGE sum of money in his fridge, and the money was directly the result of a political bribe, which is illegal.
Bet he get’s his money back.
Again, that’s irrelevant. Liberal lawyers don’t want to defend a law-abiding citizen who proved the value of firearms for self-defense, and the fact that the law was on his side on that issue just makes them all the more huffy about it.
Where are you getting that?
Nonsense. Some people just have a bee in their bonnet about “banks”. (While he’s not old enough to have personally experienced a horror story about Great Depression bank runs, it’s quite possible that his dad did and taught him not to trust banks.)
$400K over 40 years is $10K saved per year between both spouses. That's certainly not an exorbitant amount, and sure as hell it doesn't allow someone like yourself to draw conclusions with certainty.
Or, like so many people here, did you rush to the usual "jack-booted thugs" and "lib lawyers" conclusion?
The article itself.
Bill and Hillary were laundering $30 MILLION a DAY through ADFA, from the sales of COCAINE, and BILL and DAN LASSITER were having COKE parties with underage girls.
Not only did the FBI not take their money, but Bill became PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES.
So, the moral to the story is, If you’re gonna do drugs, and hoard money, Skip Pot, and Do COKE, or HEROIN, or METH, and DO IT BIGTIME!!!
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